Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[EnV - Osiris (WIP)]

"Hey everyone, I wrote a drum and bass at 165 BPM to annoy the shit out of you all!"

Track was almost rad, just do me a huge favor and bump the bpm up just a tad. Like... 175 at least. 183 bpm if you want to make Quarl happy. 200 bpm for lols. If you were to up the bpm casually you'd be sitting on top of a Slam era Pendulum track.

Drums: I'd layer in a bass drum with some mid range. More punch. That kick is all bass right now. Also maybe a thin layer on top of the snare to crisp it up a little? Not a clap but something in that general frequency range. I might cut the envelope for the hi hats a little so there's not so much white noise coming from them. Replace that white noise with a shaker rhythm but keep that hi-hat rhythm in there. Maybe replace that 8/8 hi hat rhythm with some 16th notes to help add tension. Those bongos towards the end are sick.

I don't want to make you second guess anything by writing all this about the drums but the rhythm section is missing some kind of tension and all of this plays into that. I remember talking to you a ways back about doing drum and bass. Figured you wouldn't mind this kind of feedback.

I'm really loving the melodic vibes. That high note at 1:00 had some stank to it. Stank isn't a bad thing in DNB. I've seen people pull of killer tracks that were 95% stank and like 5% actual music. I don't know how they pulled it off. Put some more stank in this.

Good luck Envy. Hope life is treating you well :)

Envy responds:

Awesome advice! I'm not great at DnB so thanks for helping me out. TBH this started out as a 130bpm house track so it's tough to speed it up any more without losing my mind haha considering what I'm used to the melody sounding like. That also explains the kick. It was a big booming kick I was using for the house version I just shortened, hence why it's so bassy - I'll have to fix that. I definitely plan to add some more stank as well.

I actually purchased a "silk road" drum VST for most of the percs and I've been loving it so far. It was only like $20 too. Totally worth it.

Thanks for the in depth review! Hope all is well with you!

[Ambient Improv]

A good synth doesn't need a song to support it. You can just sit on a keyboard pressing one note over and over again without feeling dirty if you just like the tone. That said, the Roland looks like fun. I had to force myself to say that because I know it's a good synth. But for some Reason, years of looking at propellerhead synth stacks has this "I don't see anything special" side effect. Like calm down Quarl. It's a Roland, it's not like you know how to make a better analog bitch. Concede defeat.

Mem bank, arps, LFOs, effect knobs, sequencer... but I can't tell, is that a mod wheel or pitch shift? I would need at least four mod wheels and twenty pad controllers to justify making a purchase. I think I have to take a point off the score because I'm basically reviewing your synth and I found one little nuance to be upset about. Otherwise I'd have given you a 5/5.

Mich responds:

Hah. To be perfectly frank, the JP-8000 isn't a super amazing synth. For one thing, it's not even analog, it's "virtual analog" which is a fancy term to say "we made a digital synth with an interface to make it seem like an analog like you know and love". I've drooled over this one for years because of its trance legacy though, so when the right ebay deal + budget showed up I had to go for it. It's still pretty versatile, but it's not analog. I got my hands on a Korg Trinity for free, and while it's also a digital synth, it doesn't try to pretend to be analog; it's in all respects more powerful than the JP-8K, it's just a tad less straightforward to use (menu-diving, 90s touch screen, etc).

Anyway, I don't think Roland is particularly an innovator in the synth world at this point.

Waddayknow I ended up rambling about synths as well. Thanks for the review and such. <3

[I Couldn't Do Anything Quietly]

Such a cool piece. It's really easy to drone out to this. I just checked your page, noticed you've uploaded a lot of music to newgrounds. I've never seen your name before. I know this is going to sound super weird but I looked at your posting history. Not a lot going on there which might have led to my ignorance of you. NG users can be very communal when the proper rituals are followed. I also noticed this:

Response to: What you want to contribute to NG
Posted October 24th, 2013 in General
i make mediocre music

First of all, no you don't. Your music kicks ass. You didn't know what you were talking about in 2013. Being an artist is hard. It can feel like no one is listening sometimes but don't worry. I'm here now. This track reminds me of the music played while growing up. Jam sessions with old friends and family. This song is a reminder to me that so much music is just waiting to be heard. YOU ARE NOT MEDIOCRE, every artist blames themselves when people don't notice their hard work. Just keep doing it. I'm noticing you right now. This is me noticing you. I love your music.

jambrother2 responds:

This is incredibly kind, thank you so much.

[Sidereal [Oliver Vocaloid]]

I've never heard of vocaloid, looks like it was built primarily for Cubase. I guess I don't get to play with it :(

I loved the melodies and arrangement! The sound quality was pretty good too. I feel like that hard snare would have fit better in a dubstep track. Tone and texture might benefit from an extra snare. Maybe if there was a crispy clap or thin 909 layered on top of that first snare and leveled with it to fit? Dunno, just my own opinion.

Keep doing your thing Corroid! Love it.

Corroid responds:

Thank you for the review, I will follow your advice ;)

[You're Sweet, You're Cruel]

Synth wave. I had to look up the genre. I'm not super familiar but this sounds faithful so far as I can tell. I feel like music has gone full circle and the 80s is in again. I don't necessarily mind, the music sounds great!

backwardecho responds:

Thanks lady!^^ Yeah.. this was one of those where I wasn't precisely sure where to toss it, given the genre options offered here, but synthwave seemed close enough. Well, this song is decade old, but I totally agree that 80's sound has been making a comeback, which I don't mind either as a lot of electronic artists I like came from that era. =)

[Sempiternal Rhapsody]

I love this piano work. Evokes that romantic era faithfully. About halfway through I started feeling a little light jazz vibe with those chord progressions. Very inventive. It's not often I listen to a piano composition that makes me say that given how many centuries that instrument has had to evolve but I felt like this evoked a little inspiration from all over the time line.

It's a relatively short piece for piano but you took it to a lot of different places in that eight minutes. It kept my attention easily. I'm glad your happy about it. I'm also happy about it. Cheers LSD :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I'm glad you like the piece!
I do tend to vary my pieces a fair amount, which is something I sometimes get complaints about. But on the other hand, it's nice whenever people appreciate that fact, like you are doing now :)
I get what you mean with the slight jazz feel! I'm actually working on a way more jazzy piece atm, which is quite rare for me.

I wonder if entirely new ways of playing the piano will come up in the future! I find that surprisingly, there are always new elements to be found with just these 88 keys, some of them more noticable than others. Ofc, there's a physical limit to what can be done, and another limit to what generally sounds good. But I think the instrument is far from dead, or even belonging to the past.

Thank you for your review! Always a pleasure to read them ^ ^

[The Vow]

I'm not sure if you ever played Mass Effect but this evoked that soundtrack a few times. Especially around 00:38. I used to mod NGAP audio in college so I'll admit that I double checked the Mass Effect OST for lols. The instrumentation is so similar but that's not a surprise. Most professional sound designers have access to the same tools, sound banks, and libraries that every one else has. Also, contemporary "classical" music is allowed to evoke themes from genres that span a few hundred years. Because of that there's always a chance something is going to sound like something else.

It's not a bad thing that this sounds like Mass Effect. I'm just trying to justify the fact that I thought this might have been stolen for a quick second. Not your bad. Mass Effect is actually a really awesome OST to be compared to. Really great work backwards! Keep pumping out jams like this in 2017 :D

(Let's not talk about all the samples I've used over the years.)

backwardecho responds:

Thank you so much, Quarl!! xD Well, I haven't played ME but I do have those freak out moments now and then that I somehow just recreated part of a song which already exists (nearly all the time, it winds up being a cousin to an older track of mine. Of course, now you've made me completely paranoid that what if I saw a commercial for Mass Effect or walked by it being played in Best Buy or something and got a song snippet stuck in my sub-conscious that popped out a week ago in regurgitated sound!! =O)

Recently, I took out a loan to update my laptop, DAW and so on and I've just been giddy about creating music again, so I expect to be quite busy this year! I definitely look forward to what you have in store as well!!^^ <3

[Yubitsume]

I love it when people mix traditional Japanese instruments with contemporary beats. Unless I'm being ignorant and these are specifically korean instruments. Help me.

Really well done track. Was fun to hear it progress and evolve. You used the right amount of instrumentation that allows the rapper to get a good rhyme across while keeping the whole track interesting interesting. Loved it Nachos!

larrynachos responds:

P sure it's a koto or shamisen. Thanks!

[Atom]

I feel dumb admitting I don't remember ever checking out any of your work. Was really digging this. Takes me back to those old school cornandbeans days when Ian was super into Dragon Force. Some of the mixing elements in this are peaking the track. The distortion from the clipping is noticeable but all the elements aside from that is flipping sex sauce. Awesome melodies, slick breaks, over all good choice of instruments. Just work on fine tuning that mix! I especially loved that down tempo break down at the end.

Just plugged in headphones to see if I can't get to the root of that clipping. Bass sounds like it's in the middle where it should be. Maybe I'd have tried panning everything else a little harder? Not sure if you know this but panning an instrument creates the illusion that it's louder than it really is which allows you to turn the volume down on it and saves room in your mix.

If your not familiar with side chaining I'd make that priority homework. You can really clean up the mix by letting your drums slice through different instruments. I think Fruity Loops has a different name for it but side chaining will let you duck the amplification on one instrument every time that bass kick or snare hits. In drum and bass the drums are the most important part of the mix. So side chain it past the bass, pads, and a little on the leads. Again, not sure how it works in Fruity Loops but when you figure out how to side chain in Reason you basically start side chaining EVERYTHING.

I'm not sure what else to say but I'm sure that was plenty. Take it easy Nachos!!

larrynachos responds:

Completely overlooked sidechaining haha. I usually dont sidechain dnb tracks. I usually do it too hard lol. Still havent figured out how panning helps my mix though. Could you elaborate or link me to some decent tuts? Thanks for the review! It feels good to get some solid pointers. Cheers Quarl!

[Yuletide Memories]

Despite how you feel this was really well mixed. It sounds like you really brought the instruments forward in this. Is that from compression? Whatever you did I have a bias for it and I like it. Excellent arrangement, instrumentation, mix. Those sleigh bells were super smart. I didn't even realize how long this track is. It morphs around a bit and stays really interesting. Great job and happy holidays lsd :D :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you for the review! :3
I really 'cheated' when it came to mixing this. I had to do the quick version, which entails using Cubase 9's new Maximizer on the "modern" setting, and just throwing that on the master track xD

The good thing is, these orchestral insturments I used, although not the very best on the market, are still quite good out of the box. They tend to be panned already, and they generally work well together. Since I made the arrangement so simplistic (considering the time I had, there was no choice anyway), I didn't run into the issue of having to separate intruments in the mix, because of them being layered on top of each other.

All that said, I'm still fairly certain this could sound even nicer, if I spent an hour or two messing around with the EQ, and some additional stuff :)
But sometimes, less is more!

I'm glad you like the arrangment. It was pretty much improvised, based on my intuition :D
Since I've played this piece for many years though, I am very familiar with it, which made the entire process much easier.

As for the sleigh bells, I had some problems getting them to sound balanced :V
Since I used them in a rhythmic manner, but the piece follows no specific tempo and changes all along, I decided to drop them after using them for a short while. I spent way too much time adjusting all the notes in the piano roll so that they would fit together!
They are still not perfect, but I'll pretend that it's "humanization" ;)

Thanks again, and Happy Holidays ^ ^